‘Thanks Obamacare’ Ads Have Everyone Confused

[1]An advertising campaign to promote the benefits of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act to young adults is drawing criticism and confusion[2].

The ads, created by the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado Education, feature the tag lines “got insurance?” — which plays on the milk industry’s popular “got milk?” campaign — and “thanks obamacare!” The campaign has produced other ads[3] based around frat boy “bros,” “Keg ER” and a woman posing with a cut out of actor Ryan Gosling, which also touted birth control coverage, MediaBistro notes.

One ad features a young woman holding an open package of birth control pills[4] and an excited expression standing close to a man with a grin on his face. The ad text reads: “OMG, he’s hot! Let’s hope he’s as easy to get as this birth control.” It goes on to tout the coverage of birth control in insurance plans mandated by Obamacare.

Social media users quickly expressed dismay about the suggestive message and confusion over who it was meant to attract. At least one wondered if it wasn’t really a joke.

The launch of Obamacare has been marred by very low initial signup numbers[5] due to continuing problems with the federally-run health insurance exchange website, which covers 36 states.

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